Search brisbanetimes:

Search in:

Syrian regime attacks rebel positions

The Syrian military has carried out an air strike on a suburb of the capital as rebels clashed with soldiers around the Damascus region, a monitoring group says.

"A fighter bomber carried out a raid on Daraya as rebels and soldiers fought on the ground, while artillery bombed Moadamiyet al-Sham," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, referring to two towns south of Damascus.

The Britain-based group said on Monday the air force also overflew Eastern Ghouta, an area where rebels have set up rear bases amid its orchards, it said.

The military has for several days bombarded rebel strongholds in the suburbs from ground and air, raising fears of a looming ground assault by the army to try to establish a secure cordon around the capital.

Advertisement

The Observatory also reported clashes and bombardment in the northern province of Aleppo, the central region of Homs and Deir Ezzor to the east where at least one rebel was killed.

Al-Watan newspaper, close to the government, said the army on Sunday "dealt heavy blows to Al-Nusra Front gunmen linked to the al-Qaeda network in several regions of Damascus province and Aleppo".

Soldiers also attacked gunmen in the Tadamun and Hajar Aswad districts of southern Damascus, "killing or wounding dozens of them", it said.

Al-Watan said government forces had killed more than 5000 rebels in Aleppo over the past month.

On Sunday, 94 people, mostly civilians, were killed in violence across Syria, with the Damascus area accounting for 37 of the deaths, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics for its information.

Activists also said Syrian rebels had captured parts of a large army base in the country's north, just west of the city of Aleppo.

The Observatory said the rebels entered the Sheik Suleiman base on Sunday afternoon, after weeks of fighting.

The development indicates the rebels are strengthening their grip on northern areas near the Turkish border. Last month, they captured another large base near Aleppo.

The Observatory said the rebels seized a key sector of the base. Amateur videos released by activists showed gunmen walking inside the base, carrying a jihadist black Islamic flag.

The footage also showed rebels driving around in a captured tank and manning heavy anti-aircraft machine guns. The activist videos appear genuine and correspond to AP's reporting on the events depicted.